Energetic ion and plasma oscillation measurements during plume mode operation of a hollow cathode

Abstract

Hollow cathodes are important devices used for spacecraft electric propulsion. The hollow cathode has two operational modes. One mode is a stable mode called the spot mode, and the other is an unstable mode called the plume mode. Operation in plume mode should be avoided since the instability causes high-energy ions that sputter-erode the cathode parts. In this study, the relationship between discharge oscillations and ion energy distribution in plume mode was investigated using a triple Langmuir probe and retarding potential analyzer for a 40-A class xenon hollow cathode with a lanthanum hexaboride emitter. The triple probe can measure unsteady electron temperature and plasma density oscillations. The electron temperature was not so high, 1 to 2 eV. Some instabilities were observed in the plume mode. The ionization instability with a low frequency oscillation of 30 kHz was the dominant mode. A broad spectrum around 330 kHz due to ion acoustic turbulence was observed. In addition, in the downstream plume region, oscillations around 120 kHz were observed owing to temporal change in anomalous resistivity. The 95% ion population voltage found to be 20 and 30 eV in spot and plume modes, respectively. The magnitude of the low frequency ionization oscillation was found to be inversely proportional to ion energy in plume mode. This indicates that the resonant energy transfer from the oscillation to the ion energy through Landau damping probably plays an important role in high energy ion generation in plume mode. A clear correlation between discharge current and electron temperature waveforms was found. The larger the electron temperature fluctuation, the stronger the correlation between discharge current and electron temperature, and the larger the phase difference deviation from 180°.